Multimachine, built by Pat Delany of Palestine, Texas, is an inspiring project. It is...
a humanitarian, open source machine tool project for developing countries... The MultiMachine all-purpose machine tool can be built by a semi-skilled mechanic with just common hand tools. For machine construction, electricity can be replaced with "elbow grease" and the necessary material can come from discarded vehicle parts. What can the MultiMachine be used for in developing countries?
AGRICULTURE...
WATER SUPPLIES...
FOOD SUPPLIES: Building steel-rolling-and-bending machines for making fuel efficient cook stoves and other cooking equipment...
TRANSPORTATION...
EDUCATION...
JOB CREATION...
The project is open source and
thoroughly documented. It uses commonly available pieces. It seeks explicitly to address the needs of the developing world. It recognizes the work people did in this area (
1,
2) in years past. Cool stuff. We have all kinds of Industrial Revolution era mill buildings in the greater Boston area and this would fit right in.
Frostbot, the work of Brian Schmalz, is another food fabber. It's designed to frost cookies. The CNC mechanism is from
Fireball CNC. Brian's other tinkerings include a cool
USB bit-whacking board available at
Sparkfun.
